Although adequate washing with soap and water will remove surface grime, facial makeup and oils from the face, it is well recognized that for this purpose the use of specially formulated cleansing creams and lotions has certain advantages. For example, the special chemical nature of facial makeup leads to the use of specific formulations for dissolving or lifting the oily binding materials in the makeup which hold the pigments therein, as well as the grime settling thereon, from the skin.
Natural skin oil, sebum, is a product of normal metabolism and is excreted from sebaceous glands in the skin. These oils tend to solidify over the sebaceous orifice to form hardened plaques which are difficult to remove by washing with only soap and water. Even scrubbing with soap and water fails to remove these plaques. Furthermore, although the plaques are formed from fatty materials they are surprisingly resistant to dissolution in the usual solvents for fats such as acetone, chloroform, glycerine, kerosene, hexane, dioxane, trichloroethylene, ethanol, and the like, which readily remove surface oils on the skin but are inefficient in dissolving the solid plaques.
The formation of these plaques gives the skin a rough and aged appearance, and the appearance is further marred by the constant drying of the outermost epidermal cells. These dead dry cells remain on the skin adding to the rough appearance.
Preparations such as skin lotions, creams and the like are available for cleaning the skin and removing plaques. Some of these preparations contain abrasive materials such as borax particles which aid in the removal of plaques as well as the rough dead skin. However, although these compositions may be effective in removing the plaques and cell debris, they do not leave the skin with a smooth appearance and feel.